Los Ausentes
(2019)
Los Ausentes (The Absent Ones) reimagines a pivotal moment from the 1976 Venice Biennial, titled "Spain: Artistic Vanguard and Social Reality (1936 - 1976*)." In the original exhibit, curators set up an empty dinner table, symbolically honoring missing and exiled artists and academics by placing their names on placeholders at each seat.
Los Ausentes (The Absent Ones) reimagines a pivotal moment from the 1976 Venice Biennial, titled "Spain: Artistic Vanguard and Social Reality (1936 - 1976*)." In the original exhibit, curators set up an empty dinner table, symbolically honoring missing and exiled artists and academics by placing their names on placeholders at each seat.
In this contemporary reinterpretation, the table takes on new meaning beyond its commemorative function. It becomes a symbolic space for reunion, where diverse opinions and new ideas can be discussed and flourish.
The absence of chairs reflects further on the current general state of spiritual disaffection and the absence of dialogue. Additionally, the deliberate omission of the original names underscores the project's universality, emphasizing the fact that any one of us could be joining the dinner table at any given time.
The absence of chairs reflects further on the current general state of spiritual disaffection and the absence of dialogue. Additionally, the deliberate omission of the original names underscores the project's universality, emphasizing the fact that any one of us could be joining the dinner table at any given time.
When the pure shapes sank
under the chirping of daisies,
I knew they had murdered me.
They combed the cafés, graveyards, and churches for me,
pried open casks and cabinets,
destroyed three skeletons in order to rip out their gold teeth. But they couldn’t find me anymore.
They couldn’t?
No, they couldn’t find me.
But they discovered the sixth moon had fled against the torrent, and the sea—suddenly!—remembered
the names of all its drowned.
When the pure shapes sank
under the chirping of daisies,
I knew they had murdered me.
They combed the cafés, graveyards, and churches for me,
pried open casks and cabinets,
destroyed three skeletons in order to rip out their gold teeth. But they couldn’t find me anymore.
They couldn’t?
No, they couldn’t find me.
But they discovered the sixth moon had fled against the torrent, and the sea—suddenly!—remembered
the names of all its drowned.
From Fable of Three Friends to Be Sung in Rounds
Federico García Lorca**
*1976 marks the first year of the Spanish democratic transition after 40 years of Francoist Regime.
**Federico García Lorca was killed in 1936 by the Nationalist forces. Documents and witnesses seem to indicate his remains are in a location near his birthplace in Granada. However, after several efforts to identify him amongst a large number of other victims, it has not been possible to find the poet’s bones. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of victims murdered during the Civil War and during the Regime remain anonymous in unmarked mass graves across the country.
ARTWORK DETAILS
Los Ausentes, 2019
Dypthic. Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
The Landscape of a Tablecloth, 2019
Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
**Federico García Lorca was killed in 1936 by the Nationalist forces. Documents and witnesses seem to indicate his remains are in a location near his birthplace in Granada. However, after several efforts to identify him amongst a large number of other victims, it has not been possible to find the poet’s bones. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of victims murdered during the Civil War and during the Regime remain anonymous in unmarked mass graves across the country.
ARTWORK DETAILS
Los Ausentes, 2019
Dypthic. Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print
The Landscape of a Tablecloth, 2019
Size not specified
Gelatin silver hand print